MapleStory/Bowman Guide
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Looking for /Skills and /Builds? So, you chose to become an archer? Perhaps it was because of their great range, or maybe it was just because archers look cool. Nonetheless, this guide will attempt to make you the best archer you can be.
Why Bowman? Bowmen do the most ranged damage of the four classes. Hunters are faster than Crossbowmen, but they also do less damage. Crossbowmen are often hailed by high-level players as the most powerful characters in the game after the third jpb advancement due to a number of powerful skills, however they are less common than Hunters since they require some skill to play well. Though Bowmen use a large number of arrows, arrows are a common monster drop and are thus easy to obtain, unlike Assassins' throwing stars.
Starting Out
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A perfect archer must start out perfectly by rolling the die during character creation until (s)he has 4 LUK and 4 INT because they do nearly nothing for an archer. The amount of STR and DEX rolled does not matter. It is generally acceptable to roll a 4/5, 5/4 or even 5/5 or 4/6, but the absolute perfect archer is a 4/4.
Choose your favorite hairstyle, and don't worry about clothes or shoes; eventually, you will replace them with your true armor. In the meantime, a tee shirt is fine. The same goes for a weapon; I know you want a bow right now, but you really can't use one until level 10 anyway.
So now give your character a name, and check to make sure no one else has it. Then click okay, and we are moving on!
Maple Island
editThe first stop in your journey is beginner land or Maple Island. This is where you learn to kill stuff and things of that nature. There are a few quests you can do while on the island, but you cannot become an archer until you leave for Victoria Island.
You should stay and train on this island until you are level 10. Maple Island is a great place to level a "beginner" class and it is easy to get an entire map to yourself. Never, ever, put any ability points into INT, LUK, HP, or MP. Get your STR to 15 or so, then put all other points into DEX. You may also wish to put more points into STR if you want your earlier levels to be easier, or less points into STR if you have more money, but 15 is a reasonable amount. Just make sure your DEX is at least 25 by level 10. Try not to put more points in STR than 15, though; there are now quests available on Maple Island that will allow you to get to level 10 quite rapidly.
You can leave this island at any time you wish by collecting 150 mesos and heading out to the port. Once you leave, however; you can never come back.
Victoria Island
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If you aren't level 10, get to level 10 right now by leveling on snails. You can't become an archer here unless you are level 10 with 25 dex.
After you reach level 10, find Athena Pierce in the town of Henesys (the one at the bottom of the world map: it is suggested that you use the taxi service in Lith Harbour to go to Henseys, not the black taxi, but the guy behind the booth). She lives in a tree on the far right of Mushroom Park (also called Henesys Park).
(It is important you talk to Athena Pierce while you are at level ten; you will not gain crucial skill points otherwise.)
After advancing to archer, your max HP and MP will (just about) double, and now you can finally equip a bow! Head over to the Henesys weapons and armor shop to purchase your War Bow (level 10). The potion shop of any town sells arrows at 1 meso each/ or u can find arrows easier from monsters for free!
Some people say that a melee weapon is much better till about level 15 or even level 20. If you want to have a good melee weapon till then, go to Perion (top of the world map) and buy a 2-handed Axe or wooden sword for 3k meso (each k = 1000 meso). You can either raise some strength early or you can just pump dex all the way. Both str and dex raise your damage, but dex is better for bows and str is better for melee weapons.
The general stat build is to have 5 more STR than your level, and everything else in dex. This way, you get the most damage out of your attacks while still having enough strength to hold a bow. However, the 5 STR more than your level build is only recommended if you want to be a bowman. Crossbowmen usually have their STR down to their level as crossbows require lower STR to use. When you're upgrading gears, make sure to set your priority list such as this: weapon, bodywear, bottomwear, hat, and finally shoes (which are not very necessary). If you are intending to use Crossbows to get used to the type of weapon before advancing, the general stat build is to have the same amount of STR as your level. Be aware though, that a transition from say, a Balanche to a Battle Bow, will have a larger jump on Strength. Remember that armour equipments during these levels also require the same amount of STR as your level.
If you don't know what skills to get, just max out Critical Shot, Double Shot, and Eye of Amazon. See Cookie Cutter Builds for more specific builds, and the pros/cons of those builds.
The Second Job Advancement
editYou have finally reached level 30, and you are ready to get yet another giant boost in power. You are finally able to advance to the 2nd job.
First, talk to Athena Pierce again, and she will give you a letter to the 2nd Job instructor. Now, stock up on a few potions (50 orange potions and 50 blue potions to be safe) and find the 2nd Job instructor and give her the letter. You will have to fight modified Evil Eyes and Zombie Mushrooms in an Ant Tunnel-esque arena. Be aware that both Evil Eyes and Zombie Mushrooms deal approximately 70 damage to you. The Evil Eyes are weaker than normal, and Zombie Mushrooms are stronger than normal. Three ABs or DSs per monster should do the trick. Collect 30 dark marbles, talk to the instructor again, then to Athena Pierce.
Congrats! You are now a 2nd job Archer! See the Hunter or Crossbowman section if you are having trouble deciding what you want to become.
Tips after level 30
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- It is much cheaper to create arrows in Henesys, using 1 processed wood and 1 stiff feather. Talk to Vicious (found in the Henesys Market left of the potion and weapons shop) when you have collected 1 stiff feather and either 10 branches or 5 firewood. He can then turn your branches or firewood into processed wood. However, keep in mind that you have to go to Henseys or El Nath to create your arrows, then go back to your training point, which can cost more than the arrows themselves. Pi from Ludi and Vogen from El Nath can create arrows using the same materials as Vicious. Additionally, Vogen can create bronze and steel arrows. Bronze Arrows require 1 Bronze Plate (refine 10 Bronze Ore through Mr. Thunder, Chris, or Chrishrama), 10 Stiff Feathers, and 3 Processed Wood. Steel Arrow on the other hand, require 1 Steel Plate, 15 Soft Feathers, and 5 Processed Wood.
- If you want to train quickly, never use your normal attack; ALWAYS use AB or DS (when you get it). To keep up the pace, keep plenty of mana potions. Mind, this is only practical after level 30 or so, although if you have a solid fund supply you can do that at lower levels as well.
- Try to stay a good distance away from enemies. Bow whacking looks fun, but it doesn't do much damage and in most situations is very ineffective.
- Use warrior and speed potions to increase training speed when you can afford them.
- DON'T CREATE A GLOVE!! You get lvl 20 Blue Diros glove and lvl 35 Gold Scaler glove from quests. Gloves are expensive to craft, and there is little to no benefit in making them, as they do not raise your defence very much. However, you may consider upgrading to the Green Diros . All it takes are the level 20 glove you already have, cash, two refined emeralds, and you get a +2 dex boost, which is nice at level 20. You'll be using the glove for 15 more levels, so it's something to consider if you have funds available. Everything else is entirely inefficient.
- NEVER CREATE BOOTS! There are only two shoes you need, snowshoes and whitebottoms. Speed is one of the more important stats for an archer, as it allows you to get away from your enemies faster. Snowshoes give you traction in Ossyria, as well as 7 slots as opposed to the 5 slots of normal shoes, and whitebottoms give you speed everywhere else. I suggest you keep your whitebottom shoe for a while, then scroll your snowshoe for speed when you can afford it. If you want Shoes that increase your statistics, simply use ones you can find or gain from quests.
- If you plan on being a Hunter, then your STR should be 5 more than your level, with everything else in DEX. For Crossbowmen-to-be, STR only needs to be equal to your level, with everything else in DEX. NEVER PUT POINTS INTO HP, MP, INT OR LUK. At level 30 (and assuming you rolled perfect LUK and INT), a Hunter should have 35 STR and 127 DEX, and a Crossbowman should have 30 STR and 132 DEX. Similarly, you should still have 4 LUK and 4 INT if you wanna be perfect at that level (or any level)
Intermediate Guide
editWhere to Train
editThis table is not an end-all-be-all guide for where to train, and depending on how you build your archer, some of these places may not be good for you to level at all. For example, Fire Boars or Jr. Cats at level 46 is much more effective for someone who has Bomb or IA early but doesn't work for someone who is getting FA at that time. FA archers can take on golems earlier than archers who don't have FA, and so forth.
| Level | Recommended Monsters (Hit Points, experience gained) |
| 1 – 4 | Green Snails (8, 3), Blue Snails (15, 4) |
| 5 – 9 | Red Snails (45, 8), Shrooms (20, 5) |
| 10 – 16 | Slimes all the way (50, 10) |
| 17 – 19 | Early DS archers: Pig Beach (75, 15 for pigs and 120, 20 for ribboned pigs) |
| Early CS archers: Slimes (50,10) | |
| 21 – 25 | Green Mushrooms (250, 26), Horned Mushrooms (300, 35), Pigs (75, 15 and 120, 20) |
| 26 – 30 | Horned Mushrooms (300, 35), Green Mushrooms (250, 26), Zombie Mushrooms (500, 42) |
| 31 – 35 | Wild Boars (550, 42), Jr. Sentinels (600, 40) |
| 36 – 40 | Wild Boars (550, 42), Evil Eyes (750, 50), Fire Boars (1000, 60)), Jr. Cats (1100, 65). |
| 40 – 45 | Fire Boars (1000, 60), Leatties (1000, 65), Dark Leatties (1100, 65) |
| Kittens/Jr. Cats (1100, 65) | |
| 45 – 50 | Fire Boars (1000, 60), Jr. Cats (1100, 65), Curse Eyes (1250, 70) |
| Zombie Lupins (1800, 90), Stone Golems (4000, 170), Jr. Wraiths (1200, 70) | |
| Lunar Pixies (2500, 105) Star Pixies (1300, 72), Lupins (1500, 77) | |
| 51-55 | Coolie Zombies (4600, 190), Stone Golems (4000, 170), Dark Stone Golems (4800, 200) |
| Jr. Yetis (3700, 135), Wraiths (2800, 120), Luster/Lunar Pixies (4000, 155 and 2500, 105) |
Notes:
- Despite the many efficient enemies to train on from lvl 45 to 50, this is considered the "Archer hell" period. You will gain the least amount of exp% during this time, so don't get discouraged.
- The fastest xp gain is Lunar/Star Pixies for bowman & crossbowman from 50 to 57. It is highly recommended if you go out and get a speed cape/shoes/bone helm or use speed potions. They seem like a waste of money, but the increase in XP gained per hour is significant. [by EvaNeT]
- Pig Beach is the best spot to find pigs. However, they spawn fast and can be difficult for an archer to achieve minimum firing distance.
After level 55, you should be able to figure out which training spots are good and which are bad. You can truly go nearly anywhere now, especially now that you are able to enter the level 50-only area in Ossyria. Coolie Zombies are generally the best leveling spot from level 55 till past level 80 or so, so give them a try.
Advanced Guide
editMore than what you need to know.
Jump Shot
editThis is a relatively simple trick that is hard to master. There are 3 kinds of jump shots, forward jump shots, back jump shots, and stationary jump shots. While in practice, there is little to no reason to do a jump shot, it is necessary when fighting some bosses as you avoid getting hit entirely. For example, jump shooting against a Yeti will prevent earthquake damage and back jump shooting against Jr. Balrog will make you outside of his range of fire.
Stationary jump shots are the easiest. Just hit shoot and jump at the same time. Some keyboards won't allow you to do this unfortunately, but the majority of keyboards will allow you do do it if the buttons are on different rows and columns. For example, if your attack button is on g and your jump button is on b, it may not work, because G and B are on the same column.
Forward jump shots are the next easiest. While walking forward, do a jump shot.
Back jump shots are the hardest, and most people cannot do them consistently. Basically, while walking forward, jump, hit back, and shoot at the same time. Again, some keyboards simply don't allow this as they only allow one button to be hit at once. Additionally, this is nearly impossible to do with snowshoes because you have to do this while you are "sliding". Go to El Nath to practice, slide forward, jump back and shoot all at once to see the effect.
Hunter or Crossbowman?
editThis is a classic example of speed vs power. While Hunters have a higher damage/minute output in early levels, XBowmen catch up quickly in 2nd job. This is unfortunate as it gives a bad example of the strength of XBows in the first 30 levels; where the damage difference is miniscule and the speed difference is massive.
In second job however, XBows and Bows get the skill "booster" that levels the playing field in terms of speed. While hunters are still faster than XBows, it is less noticable with booster on. (With no booster, the speed difference is 10%, with booster on the speed difference is only 6%). The damage difference does just the opposite, the higher level you are, the bigger the difference is between the classes. XBows just get stronger and stronger than Hunters.
Frankly, both the speed difference and strength difference is minuscule compared to the different skills in 2nd job. Hunters get Arrow Bomb, a weaker attack that can cause up to 6 enemies to get stunned. XBows get Iron Arrow, a stronger attack that does not "home" on enemies but can go through walls.
The true difference between the classes is simply the Arrow Bomb vs Iron Arrow debate. The skills are similar; they both hit up to 6 enemies and both cost a lot of mana, however Iron Arrow is a bit cheaper This is where the similarities end; Iron Arrow gets weaker as it progressively hits enemies, while Bomb gets stronger after it hits an enemy. This means Iron Arrow is most definitely going to be stronger on small mobs (3 or 4) and Bomb will be better on larger mobs (6 at a time). However, Iron Arrow is more powerful than bomb in all circumstances.
Arrow Bomb has a stun ability, which makes up for its relative weakness. When maxed, Bomb Arrow has a 60% chance to stun an enemy, for each enemy. It doesn't seem like a "flat" 60% chance, weaker enemies tend to get stunned more often than the stronger enemies, and bosses never get stunned.
In 3rd job, the tables are reversed. XBows get Ice Shot, which freezes foes for up to 3 seconds as long as they aren't ice-resistant; however, it does not receive critical attacks. Hunters get Fire Shot, which is stronger and receives criticals.
In essance however; the difference between these two bowmen can be summed up like this: Hunters are speedy, XBows are powerful.
Stat comparisons: 20 Dex on a XBow = 21 Dex on a Bow. Similarly, 20 Watk on an XBow == 21 Watk on a Bow. This basically means that if you are a hunter with 42 dex, you will do the same damage per shot as an XBow with 40 Dex. Or if you are a hunter with 210 dex, you will do the same damage per shot as an XBowman with 200 dex. Bows have a Dex * 3.4 multipler, whereas Crossbows have a Dex * 3.6 multiplier. Everything else stays exactly the same. For that same reason, the same amount of Weapon Attack has a higher net impact on a Bow in terms of unit output, while Dexterity has a higher net impact on a Crossbow in terms of unit output. Similarly, due to weapon requirements, Bow users will overall have 5 more Strength and 5 less Dexterity than Crossbow users, and Crossbow users will overall have 5 more Dexterity and 5 less Strength. Weapon Attack's impact overtime generates an increasing proportional rate to statistics such as Dexterity and Strength. Diminishing returns currently do not seem apparent.
It must be clearly understood that Arrow Bomb and Iron Arrow are not buddy skills, similarly, Ice Shot and Fire Shot are not buddy skills. The Ranger's damage dealing skill is Fire Shot while the Sniper's is Iron Arrow. The Ranger's disabling skill is Arrow Bomb while the Sniper's is Ice Shot.
Comparing Ice Shot with Arrow Bomb, their damage is relatively similar. Ice Shot has a flat damage rate of 140%. Arrow Bomb has a rating of 130%, but subseqent mobs that get hit gets slightly higher damage. Arrow Bomb can also hit critical, making the average damage of Arrow Bomb 170%. Yet, due to the damage difference between Ranger and Sniper, these two skills do about the same damage. Ice Shot guarantees a freeze but Arrow Bomb only has a 60% chance. Yet, Ice Shot cannot be used on Ice type monsters.
Now for Fire Shot against Iron Arrow. Fire Shot does 150%, with critical the average is 190%. Iron Arrow does 180%, with critical that is 220%. However, Iron Arrow damage reduces as it hits more targets. In any case, Iron Arrow deals more damage as the Sniper inherently deals more damage. However, unlike Ice Shot, the elemental advantage of Fire must be considered. Ice Shot is only meant for freezing, it's damage is a bonus. Fire Shot only has one purpose, that is to damage. Therefore, Rangers can catch up on the lack of damage by attacking Ice type monsters.
One last point about these 4 skills is that when you first reach level 70, the Sniper can immediately learn Ice Shot for 100% damage and 1 second freeze. His Iron Arrow is already at level 30. This means that the Sniper can immediately take advantage of his Ice Shot and take out huge numbers of monsters. The Ranger on the other hand has to take 10 levels to max out Fire Shot.
In the 1st job advance period, Hunter's edge on speed is superior to Crossbow's edge on damage. You're not spamming skills, and more speed + less damage vs more damage + less speed generally comes to an almost equal damage over time, so the versatility of higher speed is better (especially considering the level 25 Bow has a FAST speed rating). However, if you're spamming skills, then Bows are not better than Crossbows (though, not worse off either), and it becomes solely a choice.
Scrolling
edit- The main question in scrolling shoes is that between scrolling them with Shoe Jump Scrolls or Shoe Speed Scrolls. On the surface, it seems that you would want to stick with the jump shoes, because those add DEX and result in more damage. However, one must also consider that increased speed will allow you to train faster. Furthermore, the Jump from the +DEX shoes will also alter your jumpshot timing, which could lead to catastrophic results if you go Yepeing often. Lastly, Jump shoes are much more expensive to scroll... I(HaLire) actually went with a 10% Jump on my shoes, then simply scrolled them rest of the way with speed. 3 DEX is about as good as the Gore Boots are, and +9 speed is pretty nice to have.
- The other scrolling methods are pretty simple. Scrolling with 10% is like trying to win the lotto, scrolling with 60% is the standard choice, and 100% are for the cheap bozos.
- However, not all 100% scrolls are cheap. The 100% Scroll for Cape for DEX currently costs from 200,000 mesos to 400,000 mesos. Even high leveled players search for these kinds of scrolls. That one extra DEX can really help your damage.
- If you have a lot of money to invest in scrolls, and the equipment being scrolled upon is cheap (work glove, for example), you can try to spam 10% on your hordes of work gloves, throwing away failures, until one work. Now, proceed to scroll that worked glove with the scrolls of your wish (not 10% though, please, your luck can't be that good).
- If the player can afford 5 60% speed scrolls (less then jump 60%) try a 3-4 speed common class shoe. Iron hogs drop them and they can be purchased in Henesys. 11 speed is what your aiming for which is 4 60% plus the speed thats already on the boot. Normally buying an 11 speed boot is in the millions since it normally requires 1 10% and 4 60%'s working which is very rare. Thus using boots that already have speed on them allow you to get 11+ speed boots. (120% or higher speed is wanted for fighting Jr Barlog and with 11 speed boots, a speed potion which adds 8% and 2-3% from the 10% dex overall scrolls you have on your armor is in my opinion the best way to achieve 120%+ speed.)
Attack Speed Ladder
edit| Rating | Corresponding Shots/minute |
| 0 (Normal XBow) | 68 shots per minute |
| 1 (Normal Bow) | 75 shots per minute |
| 2 (Fast Bow) | 80 shots per minute |
| 3 (Fast Bow with booster) | 87 shots per minute |
| 4 (Fast Bow with booster and strafe) | Unknown |
| Final Attack for XBow | Unknown |
| Final Attack for Bow | 160 shots per minute |
How to calculate rating: XBow speed is 0, fast XBow is 1, normal bow is 1, and fast bow is 2.
Booster increases the speed rating by 1, and strafe increases the speed rating by 1.
For example: A Normal XBow with booster shoots as fast as a Normal Bow (speed rating of 1). A Fast XBow shoots as fast as a normal Bow (speed rating of 1). A Normal Bow with booster and Strafe shoots as fast as a Fast XBow with booster and Strafe (speed rating of 3).
It is unknown what happens when a Fast Bow with Booster gets used with Strafe (rating of 4)